Bill Murray Almost Made Negative $16,000 for ‘Rushmore’

Over at Vulture, Matt Zoller Seitz has some excerpts from his new book The Wes Anderson Collection, including these fun little tidbits about Bill Murray’s turn in Anderson’s 1998 film Rushmore.

16.Bill Murray worked on Rushmore for scale.
He got a piece of the profits, but his day rate was Screen Actors Guild minimum. By Anderson’s estimate, Murray made about $9,000 from acting in Rushmore.

17.When Disney didn’t want to pay for a helicopter shot for Rushmore‘s “A Quick One While He’s Away” montage, Murray wrote a check to cover the costs of chopper rental.
The helicopter shot ended up being cut from the film anyway, but Anderson still has Murray’s un-cashed check for $25,000, $16,000 more than he was paid for acting in the movie.

The film ended up doing decently well in theaters and went on to become a classic, so hopefully Murray ended up making some money from his “piece of the profits.”